Springboks Jean de Villiers and Breyton Paulse snatched intercept tries as the Stormers beat the New Zealand Hurricanes 30-17 in a Super 14 rugby match yesterday.
De Villiers scored the first and Paulse the last of the Stormers' four tries as the South African team, previously last on the championship table, took a bonus point from an away win over the Hurricanes who came into the match in second place.
Replacement Corne Uys and loose forward Justin Melck also scored tries for the Stormers while flyhalf Peter Grant, who was a major influence in their upset win, kicked two conversions and two penalties for 10 points.
PHOTO: AP
De Villiers scored the Stormers first try after only five minutes, intercepting a pass between Hurricanes captain Paul Tito and center Tamati Ellison as the South African side, helped by penalties to Grant, shot to an early 13-0 lead.
Paulse scored his intercept try in the 69th minute to clinch the win.
The Hurricanes fought back into the match during the second quarter, scoring a try through winger David Smith, a conversion and penalty to Jimmy Gopperth to trail 13-10 at half-time.
PHOTO: AP
But the Stormers started the second half strongly, scoring tries after five minutes through Melck -- a rare scrum pushover -- and 10 minutes through Uys from a pinpoint crosskick by Grant.
They led 23-10 and Paulse's 45m intercept dash made the win certain.
The Hurricanes were architects of their own demise. Their forwards, outplayed in lineouts and the loose, failed to set a stable platform and their backplay, which was scatterbrained, helped the Stormers.
The Hurricanes enjoyed a clear advantage at scrums but that was negated by the sub-standard refereeing performance of Australian Matt Goddard. Goddard, who was heavily criticized earlier this season by Queensland Reds coach Eddie Jones, was constantly lax in his interpretation of scrum law and favored the outmanned Stormers.
He awarded Melck's crucial try from a scrum pushover, though the scrum had clearly broken up in disarray before the try was awarded. Goddard was also deficient at breakdowns and in his policing of forward passes.
The win lifted the Stormers five places off the bottom of the table.
"I think up until now it's been a very difficult competition for us," Stormers captain Luke Watson said. "There have been a lot of ups and downs, mostly downs, and this could be an important turning point for us.," he said.
OFFENSE SHINES: First baseman Pan Chie-kai hit a solo homer in the fifth inning as all 10 batters Taiwan used contributed at least one hit toward their team total of 14 One day after their first shutout loss at the WBSC Premier12, Taiwan yesterday bounced back with a commanding 8-2 victory over the US, keeping their hopes for a spot in tomorrow’s final alive. The win in the Super Round marked Taiwan’s first triumph over the US at a top-tier international baseball tournament since 2003. Their previous win over the US was at the 2003 Baseball World Cup, with only one win in the previous 10 matchups since 1999. Yesterday’s game was tightly contested through the first six innings, with the margin never exceeding two runs. However, the tide turned in the top of
“Please love us. Please cheer us on. We have been working hard. Do not give up on us.” Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien’s heartfelt plea echoed across the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) Premier12 tournament after a historic victory. Rather than boasting, Chen was making an earnest appeal after leading Taiwan to a 4-0 victory over Japan to claim their first major international baseball title at the senior level. Chen’s decisive three-run homer in the fifth inning and his Premier12 leading .632 batting average secured him the Premier12’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) title. He was also named one of the tournament’s outstanding defensive players
WELL-AGED: Although the youngest team in the tournament, Taiwan featured several veteran stars, including Sunday’s home-run hero Chen Chieh-hsien “I will never forget today,” veteran Taiwanese pitcher Chen Kuan-yu said after Taiwan on Sunday night blanked Japan to secure their first ever gold in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) Premier12 championship. Chen, who at 34 is the oldest member on the team, said Taiwan “made every difficult step to come to today’s victory. I will never forget today.” Taiwan made history when they won their first gold medal of the Premier12 tournament, beating Japan in a 4-0 shutout victory in the final at the Tokyo Dome. It was a jaw-dropping victory for many baseball commentators who went into the game with
Nikola Jokic on Saturday scored 34 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to spark the Denver Nuggets over the Los Angeles Lakers 127-102, continuing their dominance of the NBA rivalry, while Scotty Pippen Jr scored a career-best 30 points to lead the Memphis Grizzlies past the Chicago Bulls, 142-131. The Nuggets won for the 13th time in the past 14 contests against the Lakers, including ousting the Lakers in the playoffs the past two seasons. Serbian star Jokic failed to achieve his sixth consecutive triple-double, managing only eight assists, but his effort was plenty as Michael Porter Jr added 24 points and 11
RSS